I'm aware that Knoppix is based on Debian, and that there is not much point going for a permanent disk install of Knoppix. I have been using Knoppix on a particular piece of laptop hardware and it works great, especially the hardware detection - very impressive to be able to boot up like that.

I would now like to carry out a permanent installation, mainly for testing and experimentation with Linux. While gentoo looks interesting and appeals to the geek in me, my wife would probably not appreciate the amount of time that might entail. So, if I want to get a Linux setup as easily as possible for general use, and Knoppix works great on that hardware, does that mean debian should also go on just fine? In theory, does that mean that most distros would go on, but might take more effort?

(This system will not be a dual boot Windows system - dual boot is nice but a pain, especially for any server related activities).

Any general advice appreciated.